


An Unexpected Christmas

by multifandomcircusfreak



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, FitzSimmons Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-09 20:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5554739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifandomcircusfreak/pseuds/multifandomcircusfreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first thing Jemma learned about the Academy's holiday protocols was that they were absolutely a load of rubbish. Complete with stacks of forms the size of her head, designated leaves of absence, and vehicle switches, it almost made her want to pull her hair out of her head. That is, until a mix-up made Fitz unable to go home to his mum, and ended up with him coming to England with her for Christmas. Then... then it wasn't so bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 0

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jinglejemma](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=jinglejemma).



The first thing Jemma learned about the Academy’s holiday protocol was that they only gave students a week off from learning, not two. The second thing she learned was that not everyone left at the same time, and it wasn’t something you could just do. To assure that there were no unaccounted absences or weakenings in the program, everyone who planned to leave for the holidays had to fill out a list of forms and submit it by a deadline. Then, based on when you submitted your form, you either got the 15th to the 22nd off, or the 23rd to the 30th off. “No exceptions, no substitutions” Professor Vaughn had said. Anyone who left without permission or came back late would “deal with the consequences”.

The first thing Jemma thought about this was _‘what a load of rubbish’_

Either way, she was in line to get the forms minutes after she heard the announcement, and grabbed a stack of papers for Fitz too. She figured he would probably get them later on, but if there was anything she had learned about that boy in the weeks she’d been friends with him, it was that he had so much going on in that brain of his that he got pretty much all of it jumbled up. Really, if she didn’t get him the forms now, he’d remember them the day before they were due, and then where would he be? 

Looking down at the pile of papers the size of her head, the _‘what a load of rubbish’_ thought only increased. 

Jemma dodged her way through the mob of S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees that were swarming the administration office, and rushed all the way back to her dorm, trying her best not to drop any of the important papers.

She figured it would take her a few hours, but she may as well get started. She put Fitz’s stack on her desk. She would get him to fill those out when he came over after his tech lecture.

Now all there was to do was get it done, and hope for the best.

***

“What’s wrong, Fitz?” Jemma asked when he walked through the door a week later, looking perfectly miserable.

“I got the second week,” he murmured.

“Isn’t that the one everyone wanted?” she replied. She had received that one as well, and she was pretty happy. It _was_ the one that overlapped Christmas afterall.

“My mum… She thought I was coming home for Christmas on the first week. She booked a vacation to Florida when I’m supposed to see her,” he confessed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, Fitz! That’s awful!”

“Yeah,” he chuckled humorlessly. 

“Maybe you can switch the dates with someone! I heard Sally Webber complaining about the week she got, maybe she would-”

“You know I can’t do that. _Suffer the consequences if I do_ , and all that.”

“Honestly, Fitz. I feel so bad for you. What are you going to do?”

“Well, stay here, I guess. I’ll study for exams. I’ll videocall my mum on Christmas, it’ll be fine.”

“No, that’s not right. Alone for Christmas! That’s terrible!”

“What other choice do I have, Simmons? I can’t switch with someone, and where else am I supposed to go?”

“You… you could come with me…”

“What?”

“You could come with me, to visit my family. S.H.I.E.L.D will pay for the tickets, so it’s not like you're short for money, and I know it wasn’t planned and we’ve only been friends for a short while, but I’m sure they’ll love you and-”

“Thank you,” he said with a small smile. “I mean it.”

She felt her lips mirroring his, and she nodded. “Well, guess we need to inform Admin of that. And then we can get packing!”

***

It didn’t take long to pack. The SHIELD dorms were so small, that everyone’s belongings basically consisted of what would fit in and on a dresser, a closet, under their bed, and the walking space around it. Fitz ended up with one bag, containing his clothes, toiletries, gadgets, and some small presents for Jemma and her parents. Jemma ended up packing even less, because a lot of what she needed was already back home.

SHIELD didn’t cease to simultaneously annoy and amaze her with their intricate transportation plans, complete with vehicle switches and time tables. Jemma and Fitz were sent to bus 38A and drove with 60 other students about 3 km away from the airport, before they were all told to get into the different cars that showed up and taken through different routes to get there. At least they all managed to lose themselves in the crowd once in the terminal, and all they had to deal with was national security.

The flight wasn’t so bad, either. Obviously she had to deal with the eight hour trip, and each precious second was one that Jemma could have been free to spend with her family, had they lived closer. They were placed in lovely seats though, and she and Fitz discussed the various scientific journals they had brought with them on the plane. Overall, they had been shushed three times by the flight attendant during their seven rounds of bickering, but Jemma had also learned three new things from Fitz that she hadn’t picked up herself, and she left the plane with two new ideas for projects to run by him. One of them might be even good enough to submit to Weaver.

Once they were about an hour away from Sheffield, Jemma began tapping her fingers on the arm of her seat in anticipation. Fitz swatted at her multiple times, saying that it was giving him a headache. But that was stupid because she wasn’t making any noise, and she told him that. He gave up after that.

She knew that he had his own anxiety. Afterall, he was going to spend his Christmas break with a family he’d never met, in a country that wasn’t his own (a fact he’d brought up _numerous_ times throughout their acquaintance) and they’d only been friends a few weeks. 

Jemma had to remind herself of that sometimes. She knew that she and Fitz weren’t dating, but she often caught herself worrying about if she was scaring him off by going too fast. She didn’t think anything could really _scare him away_ from something, and to her their friendship seemed perfect, too good to be true, really. But it was possible that he didn’t feel the same, and she was just dragging him along with her, forcing him to follow her wherever she went.

She hoped that wasn’t true.

Lost in thought, she had been vaguely aware of the last length of the journey, minutes passing like hours and vice versa. It still came as a shock when the flight attendant announced that they would be landing in a few short minutes, even though she had been waiting not-so-patiently for _ages_. All Jemma could think when she heard this was _home_. Though her ears did process Fitz’s small intake of breath. Poor boy.

The second the plane landed, she threw back her head and laughed, thrilled to be on home ground again. She looked over at her best friend and observed his expression, somewhat amused by the way it was contorted to be in the middle of different emotions.

She smiled and put her hand over his, chuckling when it caused him to jump up in his seat. “Come on, Fitzy,” she grinned. “Let’s go find my family.”

He stood up with her and followed her, and even his grumbling “Don’t call me Fitzy” couldn’t disturb her mood.

***

Stepping out of the terminal was a dizzying rush of emotion as she scanned the crowds for her parent’s faces. They told her they’d be right on time to pick her up, and that she and Fitz wouldn’t need to get a cab. They even said they’d go with her to grab her bags, which was good because she didn’t want to be apart from her family for more than a second that week. It had been far too long, and they had way too little time together that week.

Her eye was caught by a blur in her peripheral vision. Jemma turned to see her father smiling in the crowd, with her little sister sitting on his shoulders, excitedly waving her arms back and forth. Beside them, her mother was grinning, her hands clasped together. 

“Fitz!” Jemma exclaimed, hitting his arm. “They’re over there!”

Without turning to make sure he was going with her, and trusting him to follow her, she surged through the crowds to where her family was standing. Her father helped her sister down, and the second Ellie was on the ground, she was rushing forwards too. Jemma flung her arms out and hugged her enthusiastically, and she soon felt her parents bodies surrounding her as well.

She didn’t know how long the family hug lasted, but when they all returned to the reality of the airport, Fitz was standing behind her, looking terribly awkward as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

Jemma cleared her throat. “Mum, dad, Ellie. This is Fitz. He’s my friend from the Academy. The one I, er, told you all about.”

Her father stepped forward to shake his hand, which Fitz did, though his expression was quite pained. “Nice to meet you, Fitz.”

“Same from me, dear,” her mother agreed. “It’s nice to know that Jemma’s finally made friends.”

Jemma felt the blood flooding into her face at that comment. She’d almost forgotten that her parents had a habit of being… honest.

“I’m surprised she’s even friends with you. How do you put up with her?” added her sister. “She’s such a nerd.”

Ellie too.

Luckily for her, Fitz didn’t seem to catch on to her embarrassment. Instead he laughed good naturedly, not taking the fourteen year old’s jokes too seriously.

“I guess it helps that I’m just as much of a nerd,” he replied. “Thanks a lot for letting me come visit. It means a lot. I mean, if you lot hadn’t let me come stay, I would have been doomed to a week of endless studying, so I’m eternally grateful.”

Jemma’s mum waved her hand dismissively. “None of that, love. Come along, let’s go grab your bags as quick as possible. By the time we get home, it’ll be almost midnight. Now, I don’t know what the curfew is at this Academy of yours, but that’s late enough in my house, so off to bed.”

Ah, yes. Sleeping was the perfect way to start off her holiday. But honestly? Jemma wouldn’t have it any other way.


	2. Day 2

Jemma was typically an early riser. She was up with the sun for as long as she could remember, probably something that had to do with her mind-set that no minute of any day should be wasted. Today, however, she was appalled to discover that she had slept in. To nearly 10:00.

She had opened her eyes to the feeling of absolute bliss that could only really come from a good night’s sleep, followed by a peaceful morning. There were no birds chirping, but it was winter. Not a sound could be heard in the house, not even her father yelling at the telly, or the sound of her mum in the kitchen, or Ellie walking about the house. With nothing to tell her otherwise, she thought it was six in the morning.

Then, she rolled over to face the clock on her bedside table and realized with a start that it was already ten. 

“Goodness!” she cried and flung herself out of bed. She blinked, but looking back at the clock, the time was but a minute later. So, the clock worked…. Fantastic.

She ran downstairs as fast as she could, only to find her family where she feared they’d be. Her mum and dad were reading in their chairs, and Ellie was writing in her journal. Breakfast was sitting out, already cold on its platters.

“Did I keep you from eating?” she asked, suddenly feeling bad. She’d hoped that she’d have an early morning, so that they would have more time as a family.

Her mum turned to her and smiled. “Not for long, dear. We only woke up an hour ago. We didn’t want to wake you.”

Jemma sighed. “Alright. I just wanted to have as much time together as possible.” She paused for a moment. “Is Fitz up yet?”

“I wouldn’t know. He hasn’t come down yet, but he might just have been hanging out there until you woke up.”

Jemma smiled at the thought of Fitz hiding out in the guest room like a bunker or a cave, isolating himself from human interaction. “I’ll check on him.”

“When he’s up, why don’t you bring him down for breakfast and then you two and Ellie can get started on the baking.”

***

Fitz could bake, and Jemma hated him for it.

Her entire life, she’d been taught by her mother to follow the recipe. Obviously, this was necessary, because her mother had a particular knack for either making her treats heavenly… or taste like charred cardboard smothered in paste. There was no telling which one it would be until the plate was in front of you and she was smiling through her “eat up”. The recipe was crucial.

Jemma had already laid out every single measuring spoon and ingredient, every bowl and tray. She had the recipe book onto the page she wanted, and had read through it once.

Then Fitz came and ruined everything.

Jemma put the eggs into the bowl, and whisked it like instructed, mixing them with the ingredients that were already in there. She checked to make sure it was the perfect consistency, which it was. Ellie peered over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to where she was mixing cinnamon and sugar.

“So far, so good, Jem,” Ellie noted happily. 

“I think it needs more butter,” Fitz commented from where he sat on one of the counters.

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “I’ve read through the recipe, and I measured it exactly. It’ll be fine.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine alright, but it won’t be good.”

Jemma was about to shut him down and say that she totally knew what she was doing, but Ellie stepped in first. 

“What do you mean, Fitz?” she questioned.

He smirked. “Well, my mum does a lot of baking. A lot. So she’s pretty much mastered making things taste good, and her snickerdoodles have way more butter.”

“Well, these ones are better for you,” Jemma retaliated.

“Fine, but they’ll be dry. And isn’t the whole point of baking making things that taste good?”

She set the bowl down loudly. He wasn’t going to get away with doubting her baking skills. “You know what, Fitz? I declare a contest. I’m going to follow exactly what the recipe says, and you and Ellie can go all willy-nilly.”

He smiled. “You’re on.”

***

The cookies were just out of the oven, and Jemma wanted to wipe that smirk off of Fitz and her sister’s faces. 

For an hour, she had been prepping, measuring, cleaning, and following the recipe precisely, and each time she turned to look at the duo she wanted to scream. Ellie told him what the recipe stated it, and from atop his kitchen-counter thrown, Fitz would announce whether it could stay or if it had to be changed, like some royal decree. 

Then, she would be mixing, or stirring or pouring, and he would stroll right over, peer at the bowl, and throw something in. There Jemma was, measuring sugar practically by the grain, and Fitz would just come up to Ellie’s bowl and throw some in there like it was a game. Baking was not a game! Baking was work of blood, tears, and butter!

At one point she looked over to see him put some vanilla extract in the cookies, which wasn’t in the recipe at all! She decided that after this, if they were to remain friends, he would just never be allowed to bake in front of her. Ever.

Fitz was in the sitting room, casually doing a crossword puzzle while Ellie fawned over him. It was disgusting, really. Not just the way Jemma’s sister’s eyes glazed over at the sight of him after their baking challenge, but also how Fitz was so calm. Jemma on the other hand was in her right mind, and doing what was obviously correct. 

She was staring at the two trays intensely, waiting for them to cool enough to eat.

About ten minutes later, she arranged them onto different platters. She wouldn’t tell her parents who baked what, just to make sure it was fair. Jemma looked over the products for a few seconds before calling everyone down to eat.

When everybody took a bite of the cookies on her platter, Jemma was very pleased. They all nodded and hummed in praise. Her father even mumbled a “not bad”, which made Jemma grin. An appropriate response for an appropriate take to the recipe. She predicted it was far better than what Fitz and Ellie would get. Their snickerdoodles were probably lumpy and doughy and far too buttery.

Apparently she was wrong.

The second everyone took a bite of one of his cookies, the response was far too large. Ellie made a rather animalistic sound. Their mum’s eyes rolled back, and she tipped her head back and moaned. Their father even grumbled “not bad at all” while pronouncing every syllable, which Jemma knew was his seal of approval.

Fitz just stared at her and smirked.

The bastard.

“What?!” Jemma shrieked, and grabbed a cookie from the platter, holding it up and shaking it in Fitz’s face. “What is so good about these! They’re not even to the recipe!”

All he did was gesture for her to try it, smirk still plastered on his face.

Hesitantly, she lifted the snickerdoodle to her lips and took a bite, instantly angry at the effect it had on her. The cookie seemed to melt in her mouth, and infused its warm, sweet flavour into her taste buds. It felt like her stomach was absorbing it enthusiastically that any other food would be rejected completely. It was… heaven.

She wanted to yell at him for being so unfairly good, when she put so much effort into hers. But that would require her stopping eating the cookie.

Alright, maybe she could allow him to bake for her. Begrudgingly.


	3. Christmas

Usually, Jemma woke up about an hour before Ellie did, except for on one day of the year. Christmas. Without even opening her eyes, Jemma knew what day it was, and that it was only a matter of minutes before her little sister would be barging through the door and flinging herself onto her bed. It was simply tradition.

True enough, she could already hear the small footsteps that meant ambush. Jemma turned her head to the side and feigned sleep, waiting for the attack. 

“It’s Christmaaaaaaaas!” Ellie yelled, pouncing onto the bed. “Wake up! Or else I’ll open all your presents and take them for myself!”

Jemma laughed and opened her eyes, looking at her sister’s holiday crazed face. “Well, I suppose I’ll just have to wake up then. Are mum and dad up yet?”

Ellie turned her face to the door. “Well, they certainly are now!” Turning back, she couldn’t hide the blush that crept onto her face. “Do you… do you think I woke up Fitz?”

Sitting up, Jemma shook her head. “I doubt it. He can sleep through anything. I guess we’ll just have to wake him up ourselves, don’t you think?”

Together they crept towards the guest bedroom, take extra care to be quiet, though Jemma knew that he slept soundly enough for it to be rather unnecessary. Using hand signals like a military officer, Jemma silently told her sister to open the door and let her through,

Once the door was coaxed open, she continued to tiptoe towards Fitz’s bed, where he slept like a starfish, snoring slightly. It was adorable, the way his usually grumpy, shy, or smug face was completely peaceful, and the way his breaths were small and cute. It would be a shame to wake him.

But it was worth it.

Ellie came creeping up behind her, and counted down with her fingers, three, two, one. Together they sprang onto the bed, and cried “It’s Christmaaaaaaas!”

“Aaaaaaaah!” Fitz screamed in return, in a shockingly high pitch. He clutched his chest like a scandalized old lady, comically terrified by the two girls sprawled on top of him. 

They only laughed.

“Why you little…” he began, but he was out of breath. 

“Morning, Fitz,” Jemma giggled. “Happy Christmas.”

“I’m starving,” Ellie commented and got off the bed. 

Sensing amusement, Jemma followed. “I agree. Let’s have breakfast. Come along, Fitz.”

Together they walked off, silently laughing from where the shocked old lady that was their guest couldn’t see them. They couldn’t see him either, but they knew that his features still hadn’t morphed out of an impression of a shocked senior mixed with the Scream. 

***

For the first moment on Christmas, Jemma was alone. Ever since her day was started by Ellie jumping on her to wake her, her every minute was filled by some sort of activity. First, had come waking Fitz, with Ellie and herself jumping on him and laughing at his terrified face. Then, there had been breakfast. Then the family had opened their presents one by one, with Fitz throwing in his little gifts.

From Ellie, Jemma had received a new book about thermodynamics, with an in-depth analysis of each of the laws. From her parents, she had gotten a new chemistry set, not unlike the one she had had as a child. It wasn’t very advanced, and was probably for the average school student, which she was not. However, she knew that it was the nostalgia throwback to when she was just a little girl, first discovering the beauty of science that made it count. Then, Fitz had given her a pair of eagle earrings, to represent her time at the Academy.

Overall, she was happy with her Christmas. Not just the gifts, but how everyone was laughing and smiling.

Still, that didn’t mean she wasn’t very thankful to have a little quiet time. After the bustle of unwrapping presents, her parents had settled down to read their new novels, and Ellie was watching a Christmas movie downstairs. For the first time in hours, Jemma could hear herself breathe.

She heard a knock coming from the door. It opened a smidge, and Fitz’s head popped through.

Jemma smiled when she saw him. “Hi, Fitz! Sorry I haven’t been with you in a while, you kinda disappeared!”

He rolled his eyes. “Your sister wanted me to watch a movie with her. I’ve told her I’ve gone to the bathroom.”

“You’ll be breaking her heart you know. She rather fancies you.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Really? Your little sister?”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll go away soon. Her crushes never last long. Come on in.”

He walked through the door and shut it behind him, before crossing over to her bed and sitting down beside her. “I have another gift for you,” he told her. “I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone though.”

She smiled. “Fitz, you didn’t have to.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. Handing it to her, he told her that the box was from a watch his mum gave him, so it had nothing to do with what was inside.

Curious, she lifted the lid and couldn't stop the gasp that escaped her lips. 

Inside was a necklace, consisting of a slim silver chain and a pendant. The red stone held inside the clutch looked very familiar. 

“Is that-”

“The stone we created during our first Chem lab together, yeah.”

“You kept it?”

“Yeah… Weaver said we could take it home, so I did. I mean, it felt like an important day. You're my first friend, and I, er, wanted to give you that to show you how much you mean to me. How glad I am we became friends.”

Jemma couldn't help but beam at him. “You're my best friend, Fitz,” she said sincerely, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“You're my best friend too, Simmons.”

Slowly untangling herself from him, she asked, “Can you help me put it on?”

Fitz nodded and took the necklace in hand, waiting for her to get her hair out of the way before circling her neck with the chain and fastening the clasp. 

Grinning, she touched the pendant gingerly. “I’ll never take it off.”

And for eleven years, she didn’t.


	4. Day 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It ended up being a bit shorter than I had planned, because I realized that a lot of my ideas were just snippets, and wouldn't be really fledged out if I tried to write them. Anyway, I hope you liked it!

Jemma didn’t want to leave her family, though she was excited to go back to the Academy and study for exams. She also didn’t want to receive a horrible punishment for being late, so she wasn’t going to miss her flight.

Eager to spend her few remaining hours with her family, Jemma made sure to wake up early, and dragged Fitz out of bed as well. Because her family wasn’t yet awake, Fitz and her agreed that it would be a good idea to surprise them with a nice going-away breakfast.

She was even kind enough to let Fitz help after their last incident in the kitchen.

“So… what should we make?” Fitz asked her, clapping his hands together.

“I was thinking eggs-”

“Bacon-”

“Toast-”

“And tea.”

Jemma smiled. “You make eggs and bacon, and I’ll make toast and tea? I know how they all take theirs.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed.

They worked rather well together in the kitchen when they weren’t having an intense battle to the culinary death. Fitz skirted around her, using the microwave to thaw the bacon while she used the toaster, and while their respective foods were being prepared, they began the other ones. Jemma didn’t want to finish the tea while they were still working, for fear the cups would go cold. So, instead, she boiled the water and got the teabags out and ready.

All the while they were listening and watching the stairs, hoping the rest of the Simmons family wouldn’t come down while they were still working. 

Jemma took out the toast, and put the slices on a platter with the butter tray. During this time, Fitz began to simultaneously fry bacon and cook eggs. Then Jemma made the tea.

Finally they were minutes away from being done when Jemma’s parents and sister came downstairs.

“Morning!” they greeted in unison.

“We’ve made breakfast!” Jemma added. “All your favourites.”

“It all looks lovely,” Mrs Simmons replied. 

“Well, it’s to show my gratitude,” Fitz explained. And then with a gesture to Jemma, he added. “And she just tagged along.”

With Jemma’s instructions, the family seated themselves at the table, soon followed by plates of food and the two departing students. Together, they all began to help themselves, with pleasantries, and expressions of gratitudes, and comments on how delicious the food was were all passed around the group as they ate.

Once they were done, Jemma’s family did the dishes while the students grabbed their things and brought them to the door. The Simmonses said the would all accompany them to the airport if they would wait a few moments for them to finish up.

At the door, Fitz turned to Jemma. “I just wanted to thank you again. This Christmas was… well, it was really special.”

She smiled softly. “It was no trouble. In fact, I really enjoyed having you here.”

“You know, next year, you should come back to Scotland with me. See my mum.”

Jemma grinned. “Yeah? I’ve been wanting to meet her.”

“Yeah. She’d love you.”

“Well, my family adores you. They told me last night they might just exchange me for you. Ellie convinced them not to, though. She fancies you too much for you to be her brother.”

Fitz’s face went beet red. “I really hope that crush goes away.”

As if one cue, Ellie appeared in the hall. “Mum says to bring your things into the car.”

They picked up their bags and walked a few steps, Fitz opening the door and passing through it with her, before they stopped due to Ellie screaming “WAIT!”

fourteen year old girl smirked and pointed to something above them. Curious, Jemma looked up only to see…

“Is that-”

“-Mistletoe.”

“You two have to kiss!” Ellie squealed, and Jemma knew she wasn’t doing this because she wanted the two of them together, but simply to see the enormous blushes that had already appeared on both their faces.

“Do I-” Fitz began, hesitantly questioning her.

“Well I guess we sort of-”

“Have to, yeah.”

She could hear his intake of breath, and could see that he had his cheeks puffed out awkwardly. Fitz swooped in and planted his lips quickly on her cheek before pulling back.

“There.”

Then he rushed off to the car.

Stunned, Jemma picked her bag up in a zombie-like fashion and stumbled outside, followed by the rest of her family. As they all got in the car and began to drive away, Jemma definitely, definitely, did not think about how she wished he had kissed her lips instead.

That would be ridiculous.


End file.
